Saturday, July 18, 2009

There were rumored to have been babies born at Woodstock on Aug. 15-17, 1969, but town clerk for Bethel, N.Y., insists that no birth certificates were issued. With the 40th anniversary of the festival approaching, the AP has put out a call for any Woodstock babies to come forward. Elliot Tiber, the man who brought the festival to Bethel, says that he helped deliver a baby that weekend.

Tiber, who has a reputation for being a raconteur, said the woman gave birth at his parent's hotel near the site, which, like the entire area that weekend, was mobbed. The woman wore a leather jacket, came in on a motorcycle and just flopped down.

"I see she's starting to give birth," Tiber recalled. "It was like the quote from `Gone With the Wind': `I don't know nothing about birthing no babies, Miss Scarlet' ... I was screaming, just screaming. Everybody was standing around stoned saying, `Yeah, groovy!' They thought it was cool." [Link]